In the past, multiple purpose woodworking tables have been designed for performing a variety of different woodworking operations on one table. However, such tables have been awkward to work with for one or more reasons. One of the primary reasons is that the prior art tables use separate work areas for each of the woodworking operations, including sawing, planing, shaping, etc. The provision of separate work areas has resulted in overly large structures, which are not satisfactory for some uses and particularly use in the home, where the amount of available space is usually restricted.
One of the most highly desirable features of a multiple purpose woodworking table is the use of a single motor for performing the various woodworking operations. As can be appreciated, if a different motor were required for each operation, such structures would become overly expensive.
In order to assure the performance of certain different operations, the orientation of the output of the single motor must be variable. More specifically, in order to perform a sawing operation, it is generally desirable to have the saw blade rotate about a horizontal axis. On the other hand, in order to perform a shaping operation, it is generally desirable to have the shaper rotate about a vertical axis. In the past, this has necessitated the use of complicated gearing and pulley arrangements and the changing of the orientation of the motor output has again resulted in the movement of the working area requiring the provision of an unduly large working surface.
The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art and provides an economical efficient multiple purpose woodworking structure. The structure includes a working surface having a single work area for performing a plurality of operations, located below the working surface is a motor rotatable from a locked horizontal position to a locked vertical position. The motor is mounted on bearing means such that it is slidable within the structure to maintain the motor head below the single working area when it is moved from the horizontal to the vertical position, thereby minimizing the space requirements of this structure.